This invention relates to apparatus for handling control rod drives, and more particularly it deals with apparatus for handling control drives which facilitates removal of control rod drives from a reactor pressure vessel and mounting of the same therein.
Heretofore, in a boiling-water reactor, great difficulty has been encountered in effecting maintenance and inspection of control rod drives (CRD's) mounted in a manner to be located below a reactor pressure vessel. That is, in carrying out this operation, the CRD's must be removed from the reactor pressure vessel by performing an operation in a region of high radiation level. It has hitherto been common practice to perform this operation manually by operators who put on protective clothing. It takes a lot of labor and time to perform this operation. Moreover, there is the hazard of the operators being exposed to a high level of radiation. Thus, there has been an increased demand for the development of apparatus permitting maintenance and inspection of each CRD to be carried out automatically without requiring manual attention.